Colonialism and Neocolonialism

by Jean-Paul Sartre, Azzedine Haddour (Translator)

'Neocolonialists think that there are some good colonists and some very wicked ones, and that it is the fault of the latter that the situation of the colonies has deteriorated .. It is not true that there are some good colonists and others who are wicked. There are colonists and that is it'

Jean-Paul Sartre

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Politics, History, Economics, Essays, Theory

252 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 1965

About the author

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology). His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution."
Sartre held an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the cultural and social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, in both lifestyles and thought. The conflict between oppressive, spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, 'bad faith') and an "authentic" way of "being" became the dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre's introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism Is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.

Reviews

[E. G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acknowledgements
Preface, by Robert J. C. Young
Introduction: Remembering Sartre, by Azzedine Haddour

--From One China to Another
--Colonialism is a System
--Albert Memmi's The Colonizer and the Colonized
--You are Wonderful
--A Victory
--The Pretender
--The Constitution of Contempt
--The Frogs Who Demand a King
--The Analysis of the Referendum
--The Sleepwalkers
--The Wretched of the Earth
--The Political Thought of Patrice Lumumba

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last time I read Sartre, it involved "No Exit" and hell and lots of insane, awful people. This time? It was kind of the same thing. Except with history. And I must say, written in a much more coherent and understandable manner. Sartre takes sides against the 1960s French establishment on Algeria, war, and the state of mind in France. He also trashes De Gaulle thoroughly (and deservedly). He has such thoughtful, incisive things to say about the government at the time. He was excommunicated from many circles for writing what he wrote in this book, and in a France reeling from the shock of losing their world power, the devastation of WWII, and in a state of denial that I believe has lasted up to the present day that makes some sense.

Recommended for students of colonialism and French history, and Sartre fans who want to see a different side of their hero.

[Brecht Rogissart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een bundeling essays die voornamelijk initieel geschreven werden voor Les Temps Modernes. Voornamelijk over het Algerijns verzet, waar Sartre een morele stamp in de Fransen hun gat gaf. De vergelijkingen met Hitler en de medeplichtigheid van het Duitse volk werd niet geschuwd en door Sartre als spiegel voorgehouden aan de zogenaamde overwinnaars van WO II.

Het belangrijkste werk was echter een 60 paginalange ideologische analyse van Lumumba, met ook een originele analyse van de gefaalde Congolese onafhankelijkheidsstrijd. Sartre's oordeel over Lumumba - gebracht bij monde van Fanon - is mild, maar scherp. Hem lokaliserend als "évolué", ofte "petit-bourgeois", tracht Sartre hem te definiëren als een jakobijn met een universalistisch idee van een "verenigd en nationaal" Congo, die hij vanuit zijn klasse wilde opleggen aan de rest van het land.

Daarmee deed Sartre hem niet af als een contraproductief politiek figuur. Streven voor een verenigd Congo was de enige manier om het imperialisme te fnuiken: Sartre benadrukt dat Lumumba wist dat verdeeldheid zou uitgespeeld worden door de grootmachten. Hij was gewoon gebonden door zijn eigen klassepositie en de context waarin hij zichzelf opwierp als politieke stormram temidden van verscheurdheid en internationale druk. Het Belgisch paternalisme had hierin ook een grote verantwoordelijkheid: Sartre benadrukt dat Lumumba nooit een échte machtsbasis heeft kunnen uitbouwen, omdat hij nooit bikkelhard heeft moeten strijden voor onafhankelijkheid. Normaal gezien wordt onafhankelijke, nationale eenheid gecreëerd in de strijd, zowel ideologisch als materieel (een leiderschap, een bureaucratie, een bevrijdingsleger). België heeft afgezien van de nadelen van militaire dekolonisatie, en daarmee de "voordelen" voor Lumumba weggenomen. Deze behandeling van Sartre is de beste samenvatting van de Congolese onafhankelijkheid die ik tot nu toe heb gelezen.

[Warre Thevelin]

Sartre fileert de Algerijnse verzetsstrijd vanuit de positie van een Franse intellectueel in Frankrijk. Het maakt het boekje een ongekend boeiende aanvulling op Frantz Fanon zijn essentiële werk 'De verworpenen der aarde' (het is vast geen toeval dat Sartre het voorwoord van dat boek schrijft). Fanon zijn werk over Algerije en geweld resoneert in een tijd van genocide door een koloniale entiteit in Palestina. Sartre zijn positie en geschriften hebben ons, West-Europese landen zoals België, veel te leren als wij willen bijdragen aan een vrij Palestina.
Een essay over Lumumba maakt het werk ongekend relevant voor de Belgische lezer.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unbelievably fresh and relevant. Everyone should read this.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Sartre is a true post-colonial pioneer. His ethical and political struggle against all forms of oppression and exploitation speak to the problems of our own times with a rare courage and cogency.'
Homi K. Bhabha.

[Little Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nuanced and often overlooked examination of colonial ethics and politics and anti-colonial struggles. Another user summed it up well, calling it something like the colonizer's guide to anti-colonialism. Worth reading as a complement to Fanon, though I also recommend reading this text in conjunction with Camus' often (and rightly) decried writings on Algeria. Doing so really drives the old mantra home: "Camus can do, but Sartre is smartre."

[Remy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sartre is such a strong writer, and his articles provide a damning critique of our (first worlders) complacency in colonial systems.
"We are not wonderful. No more than we are naive."

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

los primeros capítulos y el penúltimo son muy buenos: comenta las características del sistema colonial, la relación entre colonos y colonizadores, las torturas, el tema de la opinión publica...el problema con el resto es q hay demasiado politiqueo de la Francia de los años 50 y 60 (Gaillard, De Gualle y compañía) y si no tienes un marco teórico se hace muy cuesta arriba. aún así, recomendado

[Lonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Some among them reject their objective reality: carried along by the colonial apparatus, they do each day, in deed, what they condemn in their dreams, and each of their acts contributes to maintaining oppression. They will change nothing, be of no use to anyone, and find their moral comfort in their malaise, that is all.

"The others -- and they are the majority -- sooner or later accept themselves as they are.

"Memmi has provided a remarkable description of the sequence of steps which leads them to 'self-absolution'. Conservatism engenders the selection of mediocre people. How can this elite of usurpers, conscious of their mediocrity, justify their privileges? Only one way: diminish the colonized in order to exult themselves, deny the status of human beings to the natives, and deprive them of basic rights. That will not be difficult as, precisely, the system deprives them of everything; colonialist practice has engraved the colonial idea on things themselves; it is the movement of things which designates both the colonist and the colonized. Thus oppression justifies itself: the oppressors produce and maintain by force the evils which, in their eyes, make the oppressed resemble more and more what they would need to be in order to deserve their fate. The colonist can absolve himself only by systematically pursuing the 'dehumanization' of the colonized, that is by identifying a little more each day with the colonial apparatus. Terror and exploitation dehumanize, and the exploiter uses this dehumanization to justify further exploitation. The machine runs smoothly; impossible to distinguish between idea and praxis, and between the latter and objective necessity. These moments of colonialism sometimes influence one another and sometimes blend. Oppression is, first of all, hatred of the oppressor towards the oppressed. Only one limit to this enterprise of extermination: colonialism itself. It is here that the colonists meet their own contraction: along with the colonized, colonization, the colonizers included, would disappear. No more underclass, no more exploitation: they would fall back into the normal forms of capitalist exploitation, wages and prices would come into line with those in France; it would mean ruin. The system wants the death and multiplication of its victims at the same time; any transformation will be fatal to it: whether the natives are assimilated or massacred, labour costs will rise constantly. The heavy machine keeps those who are compelled to turn it between life and death -- always closer to death than life; petrified ideology applies itself to considering men as animals that talk. In vain: in order to give them orders, even the harshest, the most insulting, you have to begin by acknowledging them; and as they cannot be watched over constantly, you have to resolve to trust them. Nobody can treat a man 'like a dog' if he does not first consider him as a man. The impossible dehumanization of the oppressed turns against the oppressors and becomes their alienation. It is the oppressors themselves who, by their slightest gesture, resuscitate the humanity they wish to destroy; and, as they deny it to others, they find it everywhere like an enemy force. To escape from this, they must harden, give themselves the opaque consistency and impermeability of stone; in short they in turn must dehumanize themselves" (59-61).

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written and powerful polemic against the French occupation and colonisation of Algeria, that details how colonialism functions as a system, and how each and every Frenchman was complicit. Within, Sartre analyses the effects the crumbling of French imperialism in Africa is having on domestic politics, particularly with the transition from the 4th to the 5th republic with De Gaulle’s temporary dictatorship, and, while his predictions weren’t accurate, all of his analyses are grounded in rich historical materialism and dialectical reasoning. In addition, his later writings on Fanon (who I will definitely be reading!) and Lumumba are fascinating.

This is the first book where I have truly learned a great deal about the DRC and its tragic (though commonplace in Africa) rise and fall: from independence, to neo-colonialist pseudo-vassal state.


Will definitely be reading more Sartre!

[Leo46 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of essays that shows a window into the transition period from Existentialism to Marxism of Sartre. All written accessibly, this is a great primer if one wants to dive deeper into the later works of Sartre that are quite difficult because of the amount of background knowledge one would need to read them (Search for a Method, Critique of Dialectical Reason). Also, it shows the idiosyncrasies of Sartre's anti-Stalinism, which funnily he was labeled a Soviet apologist during his book The Communists and Peace, that shows strains of political Marxism, Anarchism, Leninism, and early Maoisms that he was working through. The last essay on Lumumba is fascinating because of his ardent criticism but also appraisal of the Congo figure that shows Sartre's dialectical approach politically par excellence. This includes his critique but desire for centralism, and his belief in socialism and vanguardism. Also, the famous preface to Wretched of the Earth is here (which is amazing) and throughout the essays you see the deep influence of Fanon on his work. Overall, great, but some essays just feel forced into this collection and sound repetitive with the rest. I wish something like "Black Orpheus" was included.

[Devrim Güven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A l’origine du pittoresque il y a la guerre et le refus de comprendre l’ennemi : de fait, nos lumières sur l’Asie nous sont venues d’abord de missionnaires irrités et de soldats. Plus tard sont arrivés les voyageurs — commerçants et touristes—qui sont des militaires refroidis:le pillage se nomme «shopping »et les viols se pra¬ tiquent onéreusement dans des boutiques spécialisées. Mais l’attitude de principe n’a pas changé : on tue moins souvent les indigènes mais on les méprise en bloc, ce qui est la forme civilisée du massacre; on goûte l’aristocratique plaisir de compter les séparations. (p. 7)

[Abraham Gad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Acaban de estallar protestas en la capital por el trato a las comunidades provenientes de las antiguas colonias africanas. Eso ocurría en el país de Sartre en la época en que escribió este ensayo y sigue ocurriendo a 23 años de haber comenzado el nuevo siglo. Algunos radicales de opinión , críticos de Sartre por su objeción al stalinismo,omitieron su voz en sus asuntos actuales y tan puntuales de su época.

[Antti Rautiainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Texts from current events usually do not age very well. Sartre is more Leninist than I was wishing he is. He is more oaccepting of Jacobinist repressions in South than North.

[Nihlah Assegaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read sections for Fall 2024 Orientalism course. ILL READ THE WHOLE THING WHEN I HAVE THE TIME BCS WHY IS SARTRE SO GOOD AT WRITING

[Finn Carothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Thus oppression justifies itself: the oppressors produce and maintain by force the evils which, in their eyes, make the oppressed resemble more and more what they would need to be in order to deserve their fate. The colonist can absolve himself only by systematically pursuing the 'dehumanization' of the colonized, that is by identifying a little more each day with the colonial apparatus. Terror and exploitation dehumanize, and the exploiter uses this dehumanization to justify further exploitation. The machine runs smoothly; impossible to distinguish between idea and praxis, and between the latter and objective necessity.”


“Maintained at the level of animals by an oppressive system, they are not given any rights, not even the right to live, and their condition worsens day by day: when a people's only remaining option is in choosing how to die, when they have received from their oppressors only one gift - despair - what have they got left to lose? Their misery will become their courage; they will turn the eternal rejection that colonization confronts them with into an absolute rejection of colonization.”

[Umi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck the hwhites

[M-R-N-D-R · Rating 4 out of 5]

snarky as hell anticolonialism from sartre--heavy rhetoric and decision shutdowns of colonial arguments. sartre covers stereotyping, the economics of colonialism, its inevitable end, as well every citizens' responsibility and benefitting from colonizing another country, and our unfortunate choice NOT to learn about our own state's atrocities--has a strong resonance with our current position in iraq

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very informative collection of essays about political events during the 50's, particularly Algeria's struggle for independence from France, and the Congo's independence from Belgium. Throughout the essays, he offers insight into the system of colonialism, and how it manifests itself in modern times, through economic dominance and exploitation. It was a bit over my head, as it is a bit cerebral and difficult to read, but very interesting, nonetheless.

[Janine Gertz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of essays which offer a French perspective for those pursuing colonial studies. Sartre's perspectives on post-colonialism written in 1967 have relevance even today.

[Fidel Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magistral